COVER PAGE 2018 Budget Request Form Tompkins County Tourism Program

I. BASIC INFORMATION

Program: Discovery Trail Tourism Applicant Organization: Discovery Trail Contact Person: Star Bresser Phone: 607-254-1102 Email: [email protected] 2018 Request: $38,259 Product Development or Marketing? Marketing Tourism Year Program $ Change % Change % of Program Budget* Allocation** 2014 37,360 1,090.00 3% 66% 2015 36,055 1,005.00 -3.5% 66% 2016 37,137 1,082.00 3% 65.4% Request 37,694 557 1.5% 65.4% 2017 Request 38,259 565 1.5% 65.6% 2018

II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The Discovery Trail is a collaborative of eight Tompkins County educational organizations, including seven museums and the Tomkins County Public Library. The Discovery Trail increases the quality of life for residents and attracts visitors by promoting fun learning for children and adults. The Discovery Trail pools its resources, including projected annual member contributions of $20,021 plus $25,765 of in-kind support in 2018, to co-promote the events and exhibits (and thereby extends its marketing reach beyond what each organization could individually accomplish). III. CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES During 2017 two Discovery Trail board members will retire and be replaced. To help with this leadership transition Charlie Trautmann will continue as an at-large board member. The Discovery Trail ED will work closely with new board members to share goals. This change will create opportunity with new ideas. Opportunities: The Discovery Trail is an incredible product. We have eight international quality educational institutions providing rich and engaging indoor and outdoor experiences to all ages every season of the year. This wide range of appeal offers us endless marketing opportunities to engage visitors. The development of new technology marketing tools will allow for new ways to reach visitors. 2018 Budget Request – Tompkins County Tourism Program Email to [email protected] by 5/25/17, 11am

IV. BUDGET NARRATIVE Describe how you propose to use the requested funds. You may also use this section to expand on your answers to questions II and III.

The Discovery Trail’s marketing efforts are tracked separately from the other DT expenses.

Discovery Trail partners will contribute $20,021 towards marketing in 2017-18. We also computed in-kind DT partner support at $25,765 for DT directors, marketing committee, and DT Chair time.

With the available marketing funds for 2018 we will focus on advertising in social media, technology tools (Pocket sights and Ask Pearl) distribution of our rack card, themed promotions, outreach with hotels, as well as print and web advertising (with more pictures and “call to action” to engage interest).

In 2018, the requested funds will be used to increase promotion of the Discovery Trail offerings to potential out of area visitors with the goal of extended overnight stays in Tompkins County using more web based platforms and social media. Discovery Trail partnered with the CVB in 2016 to offer a FAM tour for DT and CVB staff. We would like to offer a similar tour for hospitality staff. Discovery Trail will print more visitor maps in partnership with the downtown alliance. Our plans are outlined in the program goals section.

V. PROGRAM GOALS

The Discovery Trail aligns with several of the 2020 Strategic Tourism Plan key focus areas including: Education Tourism, Arts, Culture and Heritage Tourism. The Discovery Trail is a positive investment for the Tourism Program. Our marketing initiatives correspond with the continued growth of the internet for travel planning. The majority of Tompkins County tourists are in the age range of 45-64 years as outlined in the Chmura Report and this group is reaching out to the web for more information. The Discovery Trail plans to continue with our successful initiatives including social media and exchanges between Discovery Trail partners, What’s Hot campaign with the goal of increasing attendance and name recognition. During 2017 the Discovery Trail started to develop a “Culture of the Discovery Trail” through cross promotion at our member sites. We plan to build on this work through themed promotions and updated planned Discovery Trail itineraries.

Our continuing work to expand Kids Discover the Trail!, the Discovery Trail’s educational program, from Ithaca and Trumansburg districts to include the remaining four districts in Tompkins County strongly supports the STPB Tourism goal of improving the quality of life for local residents. KDT! served 76% of all elementary school students in 2017-18. During the 2016-17 school year Dryden students will joined the KDT! program for the first time. While KDT! is an important part of what the Discovery Trail does as an organization, KDT! is a separate program from our marketing. KDT! is funded separately and Tourism Program funds are not used.

2018 Budget Request – Tompkins County Tourism Program Email to [email protected] by 5/25/17, 11am

1. Goal 1: Promotion to out of area audiences and increase awareness of the Discovery Trail/Discovery Trail sites. Measure of Achievement 1A: Increase out-of-county name recognition of Discovery Trail by 5% in the 2018 visitor survey based on 26% in 2013. Measure of Achievement 1B: Increase number of Facebook page likes by 20% from 595 to 714 (from January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2018).

Narrative: We conducted our last visitor survey in 2013 and goals for 2014-17 were based on these data. We had planned to have a new survey in 2015 however after discussing with the CVB and Tourism Program, the Discovery Trail postponed our plans to collaborate with the CVB on the 2017/2018 Visitor Survey with intercept surveys focusing on our eight sites. Data from the 2013 visitor survey demonstrates the importance of both local and out of area visitors being familiar with the Discovery Trail. In 2013, 70% of visitors surveyed had previously visited Tompkins County.

In order to attract out of county audiences the Discovery Trail will continue our social media marketing (four posts a week) in Facebook. Additionally, boosting special events with paid advertisements in out of county areas e.g. Rochester, Syracuse and Binghamton. We will engage visitors with interesting photos and captions. The Discovery Trail will develop themed promotions to the sites. Additional efforts include: Advertise Edu-tourism opportunities (example Fall Discovery Trail Lecture series). Update profile with tourism websites, web and print advertisements with changing events and new photos relating to the season/events.

2. Goal 2: Increase attendance at the Discovery Trail sites by 1.5% Measure of Achievement 2A: Increase attendance from 722,083 to 732,914 (from January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2018).

Narrative: Attendance increased by 1.51% including the TCPL attendance (meeting our goal for 2016). If the TCPL is not included, DT attendance increased by 3.54% from 345,598 to 357,827 visitor during 2016. Previously the TCPL was not included in the Discovery Trail attendance goal. In past years, museum attendance increased by 1.8% from 337,410 in 2013 to 343,663 in 2014. Attendance increased by .56 % to 345,598 in 2015 not including the TCPL. Note attendance numbers were adjusted to reflect a change in attendance reported by MoTE for 2015.

3. Goal 3: Promotion to local visitors. Increase awareness among residents of Tompkins County of the Discovery Trail and member sites as a means to increase positive word of mouth promotion to out-of town visitors. 2/3 of museum visitors attend from word-of mouth. Measure of Achievement 3A: In the 2018 visitor survey the number of visitors attending a Discovery Trail site from a referral will increase 10% from the 2013 Visitor survey (increase from 34% to 44%).

2018 Budget Request – Tompkins County Tourism Program Email to [email protected] by 5/25/17, 11am Measure of Achievement 3B: Increase in-county name recognition of Discovery Trail by 5%, based on 56% in 2013 Visitor Survey.

Narrative: The Discovery Trail developed a “Culture of Discovery Trail” that allows for more cross- promotion and joint programming, this was successful and we plan to continue these efforts through a social media exchanges, training staff and more joint programs. We will work with local papers to write 2 articles about the Discovery Trail. For example, 6 partners participated in the The Explores Human Origins. All partners offered events during International Museum Day. The and Cornell Lab of Ornithology partnered on a Birds and Blossoms series with guided bird walks at CBG and guided wildflower walks at CLO.

The DT placed with the Ithaca Child and all seasonal Ithaca Times guides to reach new arrivals and continue to build awareness in Tompkins and surrounding counties.

4. Goal 4: Increase web traffic to Discovery Trail Website and continue with the What’s Hot campaign in 2017 and 2018.

Measure of Achievement 4A: Increase web traffic to Discovery Trail website by 10%. Increase page views from 19,623 to 21,585. (from January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2018).

Narrative: The What’s Hot campaign is an integrated approach to marketing specific events and exhibits at DT sites. When awe have a cover photo on Facebook, photo and text on the CVB’s Ithaca events, and photo and text on the What’s Hot page on www.discoverytrail.com that all focus on this specific event or exhibition. Tile ads are placed with Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance during the busier travel months of April, May, June and July. During 2017-18 we will explore advertising with Ask Pearl.

The Discovery Trail will redesign our website in 2019-20. The DT set aside $5,000 in 2017 and 2018 to design a new website. We have received recommendations from the CVB, Tourism Program and DT partners.

This program aligns with the goals stated in the 2020 Strategic Tourism Plan to “develop Ithaca and Tompkins County as a central art, cultural and heritage tourism destination in the Finger Lakes” and to “increase educational tourism”.

VI. ACHIEVEMENTS

Discovery Trail Marketing Efforts 2016 & Jan – March 2017

1. During May 18-20 2017 the Discovery Trail Members partnered to offer a series of events for International Museum Day. The Tompkins Weekly featured two opening exhibits, lectures and collaborative wildflower/bird walks. http://tompkinsweekly.com/news/2017/05/15/discover-trail- group-institutions-connect-art-history-literature-science-natural-world/

2018 Budget Request – Tompkins County Tourism Program Email to [email protected] by 5/25/17, 11am 2. Discovery Trail worked with partners to update the rack card with new photos and improvements to the map. DT partners will also partner on a new map with Downtown Ithaca Alliance with updates. 3. Discovery Trail will create a summer 2017 flier with programs/events for youth distributed through schools in Tompkins County. 4. The Discovery Trail focused on cross promotion, joint programing and developing a culture of the Discovery Trail during 2016 Quarters 3 & 4. The Discovery Trail partnered with the CVB to offer a “Discovery Trail FAM tour” for guest relations staff. Participants received first-hand experience and visited all eight member locations, received a tour/orientation at each location and a handout with useful facts to help answer questions for potential visitors. Downtown Ithaca Alliance provided a tasting menu of downtown Ithaca restaurants. The participant survey showed that staff found the FAM tour very useful, for example staff knowledge about other sites increased from 5.18 (before tour) to 8.82 after the tour. 5. Members worked together to develop a themed exhibit and weekend. For example, the TCPL and MoTe collaborated on an exhibit called Ithaca Explores Human Origins, November through February. Other DT sites, the Cornell Botanic Gardens, Johnson Museum of Art, History center and participated in a Discovery Trail weekend December 17 &18 to explore human origins through art, science and history. The attendance for events was higher than typical attendance for similar events (not part of a DT weekend). The marketing committee thought the additional advertisement was effective. 6. Increased social media through a cross-promotion exchange September through December. Each month every member posted about another site using a photo and text provided by the site. The DT coordinated the exchange. This was successful and increased visibility for events though shares and likes. Additional the DT focused on social media and creating events on Facebook. The DT “boosts” special events with paid advertisements in out of county areas e.g. Rochester, Syracuse and Binghamton. 7. DT sites continue to display “Proud Member of the Discovery Trail”. The sign lists other sites and provides information about events at other sites to encourage attending multiple locations. 8. The Discovery Trail partners invested time to think creatively about discounted admission and retail incentives. After exploring several options, we decided not to pursue because many sites don’t charge admission and discounts at the retail stores are not possible. 9. Partnered with Downtown Ithaca Alliance and continued to distribute maps at all DT and CVB visitor locations. 10. Web ads/banners are featured on Edible Fingerlakes, FingerLakes Tourism Alliance (FLTA), and Visithaca.com and weekly event listings on Edible, IthacaEvents.com, Facebook, FLTA and Life in the Fingerlakes. Discovery Trail started paid advertisements with the visitithaca.com site and continued June through December. 11. Our What’s Hot campaign continues to highlights two specific events or exhibitions at one of our eight sites each month. Our Facebook page cover image reflects the current feature and our website What’s Hot sunburst on the home page and top banner directs viewers to a specific feature page which also lists previous features from 2013 and 2014. We also advertise this featured event on the two websites the CVB manages: visitithaca.com and Ithacaevents.com 12. The rack card was distributed through Brochures Unlimited, Grapevine Distribution, Ithaca Mall, Preble Visitors Info Center on Rt 81, the 1,000 Islands International Tourism Council and I-86 Visitor Center on Chautauqua Lake. Additionally, brochures were distributed at all of the State Parks and Cornell Events (for new students and parents). IC distributed at the office of student engagement & multicultural affairs. A total of 40,000 brochures were distributed in 2016. 13. Print promotion in select out of area markets plus select regional travel publications include: Edible Fingerlakes, Ithaca Child and Ithaca Times Winter, Spring and Summer travel guide. Ads

2018 Budget Request – Tompkins County Tourism Program Email to [email protected] by 5/25/17, 11am were placed in the 2017 travel guides with FingerLakes Tourism Alliance and Ithaca’s CVB. Included new photos and ad design. Created special advertisements for the Ithaca Explores Human Origins Events. 14. The Discovery Trail was featured in the Tompkins Weekly and Lansing Star: http://tompkinsweekly.com/news/2016/12/12/human-origins-headline-discovery-trail- weekend/ http://www.lansingstar.com/around-town/13305-the-discovery-trail-honors-local-leaders 2017/18 Discovery Trail Planning: • Discovery Trail will participate with CVB in a visitor survey to gain new data about visitors coming to Tompkins County and their familiarity with the Discovery Trail and our eight sites. Discovery Trail will contribute $7,500 from tourism funds ($2,500 each year from 2014-2016). • Discovery Trail partners will explore developing and marketing educational programs modeled after KDT! to schools and families outside of Tompkins County.

VII. IMPACT OF FUNDING

The Discovery Trail’s marketing efforts would be impacted significantly if we did not receive the STPB funds. All of our marketing efforts would be reduced. We use these funds for print/web advertising, brochure printing and distribution, and social media ads. All of these items would be reduced.

VIII. COLLABORATION

The Discovery Trail is a collaboration of eight institutions and many of these efforts were highlighted in the “achievement” section. Additionally, the Discovery Trail will collaborate with the History Center and several other STPB funded projects around Heritage Tourism and the proposed Heritage Tourism Center. If the center is approved the Discovery Trail will have an office space in the center and potential for a rotating exhibit space.

The Discovery Trail maintains a strong working relationship with the Ithaca CVB through collaboration on marketing campaigns and participation in CVB initiatives such as the VIsitithaca.com feature listings, seasonal e-new blasts, bus tour offerings, and Star Hospitality offerings. The CVB shares their plans and marketing research which helps the Discovery Trail determine the best avenues to pursue to expand the outreach for potential visitors to Tompkins County. Our brochures are a prominent feature in the East Shore and Commons Visitor Centers. We plan to increase our communication and planning with the CVB for 2017. We would like to offer Familiarization-tours for hospitality industry staff. We will collaborate on the visitor survey.

ATTACHMENTS

X Attachment A 2018 project budget in Microsoft Excel.

2018 Budget Request – Tompkins County Tourism Program Email to [email protected] by 5/25/17, 11am Discovery*Trail*Tourism 2018%Budget%Request%/%Tompkins%County%Tourism%Program

REVENUE&'&Discovery*Trail*Tourism &2015&Budget& &2016&Request& &2017&Request& &2018&Request& Notes TCTP* $36,055 $37,137 $37,694 $38,259 1.5%%increase DT#Member#Dues $19,500 $19,627 $19,823 $20,021 SUBTOTAL $55,555 $56,764 $57,517 $58,280

$7,500%for%2017418%joint%CVB%+%DT%survey.%DT% Reserves#-#Visitor#Survey $10,000 allocates%$2,500%to%reserves%each%year. Plan%to%redo%website%2019/20.%Started%allocating% Reserves#-#Website $5,000 $5,000%each%year%starting%in%2017. TOTAL&REVENUES $55,555 $56,764 $57,517 $58,280 TOTAL7TCTP* $36,055 $37,137 $37,694 $38,259 TCTP7Share 64.9% 65.4% 65.5% 65.6% EXPENSES&'*Discovery*Trail*Tourism Advertising7E7DM $15,195 $11,500 $12,300 $12,400 Website7updating7&7maintenanceE $500 $5,000 $1,000 $1,000 DM Brochure7Reprint/design7E7DM $4,000 $4,000 $3,000 $3,000 Brochure7Distribution7E7DM $6,500 $6,500 $6,500 $5,500 Training7hospitality7industry7and7DT7 $800 visitor7staff7E7DM Web7Hosting7E7DM $65 $450 $150 Local7advertisingE7DA7&7DM $1,440 $1,560 $1,786 $2,000 Maps7E7DM $0 $550 $550 $0 Reserves7Visitor7Survey720207E7DM $2,500 $2,500 $2,500 $2,500 Funds%put%into%reserves%for%future%survey Reserves7Web7Redesign720207E7DM $5,000 $5,000 Funds%put%into%reserves Office7Expense7E7DA7&7DM $500 $500 Professional7Fees7E7DA7&7DM $2,900 $2,700 $1,400 $1,300 Accounting7E7LAP7E7DA7&7DM $1,900 $1,900 $1,200 $1,100 Staff7fringe7E7DA7&7DM $1,555 $1,554 $4,331 $4,700 Staff7wages7E7administration7E7DA $10,500 $10,500 $8,100 $9,565

Staff7wagesE7marketing7E7DM $8,500 $8,500 $8,100 $9,565 SUBTOTAL $55,555 $56,764 $57,517 $58,280 TOTAL&EXPENSES $55,555 $56,764 $57,517 $58,280 TOTAL7TCTP* $36,055 $37,137 $37,694 $38,259 TCTP7share 64.9% 65.4% 65.5% 65.6% REVENUES&LESS&EXPENSES $0 $0 $0 $0 *TCTP-Tompkins#County#Tourism#Program Note:#expenses#for#overall#DT#administration#are#noted# with#a#DA#&#marketing#expenses#with#a#DM. 2013%Budget%Worksheet%2%Tompkins%County%Tourism%Program.xls Page%1